AIR
by starsareFALLING
Summary: AU [kind of] [Tifa]X[Aeris] Fluff. Readers Insurance will pay for any and all cavities.
1. An Intro To the Mind of Tifa

After all my years of training as a warrior, after all of the skill, patience, and control I had acquired within those long, strenuous years, you'd think that meeting a friend of a friend's wouldn't be too tough for me. You wouldn't think that I, Tifa Lockhart, martial artist extraordinaire, would be bothered by the mere act of meeting a (hopefully) new friend. Yeah, I didn't think so either at first. I thought it would be nothing when Barret told me he wanted me to meet someone. Boy, was I wrong.

And, boy, was I pissed.

Nothing agitates me more than relapses. I hate them, utterly hate them. I'm not all that fond of my childhood years, or my early teenage years for that matter. So, when I find myself acting like a love-struck teenager every time the pretty girl I'm fawning over walks into the room, it pisses me off like nothing else. True, I'm not that far from my teenage years, only just turned twenty this past month, but still, being brought back to that helpless state of the past isn't something I want to accept without a fight.

Resistance is resentfully recognized as futile, but I fight anyway. Call me stubborn, but I won't give in that easily. I'll go down fighting (or so I hope). And to assist my self-justified resistance, I have a pep-talk. Yeah, that's right, a pep-talk. Most martial artists would just take a moment to calm themselves, meditate into the state of untouchable calm we're all taught to reach, but I quickly found that meditating doesn't block her charms in the very least. So, each morning, I wake up, get dressed, take a deep breath, and tell myself firmly that I wouldn't let her get to me. And each day, I eat my words.

Even when I expect her appearance or know she's near, I can do nothing to prevent my impending regression into adolescence. As soon as I catch her scent in the air or even catch a glimpse of her anywhere within the proximity, immediate or not, attempting to resist reverting to my former self is in vain. It always bears the same result: I am tossed back into my bashful, stammering self, ever the master of subtlety.

Of course, my anger and the resentment I harbor for my incurable condition, which I finally broke down and labeled AIR, understandably titled, completely disappears once it has taken hold. Once I'm under her spell, I think of nothing other than her, nothing other than what it would be like to hold her in my arms or do all of the things I wish I could do. I think nothing of the anger that will return once her presence is gone. I can't. She consumes me, totally and without effort.

That pisses me off too, the fact that she doesn't even try. It's just natural, I suppose. Built automatically into her genetic DNA code, probably. I really don't understand how she could do it, other than that. I've seen women in some of the most suggesting positions and outfits imaginable throughout my life, mostly through training and the flittering jobs within it, and none of them have affected me as she does. They barely registered to me, probably because I found them to be quite repulsive. It must be the innocence that draws me to her, then. Must be. Because that's all she is. Pure and simple.

Aeris: the human persona of innocence.


	2. Sealing Fate

There are days when I wish I had never met her. Days when I curse the soft curve of her lips when she smiles, the pink tinge that colors her flushed cheeks, the small exhale that foretells of the cute giggle to follow it. Days when I have to clench my teeth and close my eyes to keep from leaning over and pressing those soft, lush lips to mine. Those are the days when I wake up and immediately know that this day will be harder than the last. Those are the days that make me wonder how much longer I'll be able to hold out.

Pretty pathetic, huh? I've only known her for a week.

Sucking in a final breath before I take that first dangerous step out of the safe haven of my room, I decide to skip the pep-talk this morning. I've kept it running for a week straight with no avail, so what's the point? Maybe today I'll get lucky, and Barret will have an assignment for me right when I get downstairs. Maybe I won't have to see _her_ at all.

Of course, that would just be too easy, wouldn't it?

"Good morning, Tifa."

I sigh quietly and close the door behind me. That voice. Why does it sound so wonderful in the morning? Why does it make me wish I could roll over in my comfy down mattress after waking up and hear that voice pouting at me for stealing all of the covers? Again, I sigh as my thoughts get the best of me. Why does it make me wish I could feel a lithe body on top of mine as we wrestled for possession of said covers?

Inwardly, I shake my head. Rubbing my palms on the thighs of my pants to dry them of the sudden moisture that has gathered there, I return her smile nervously. Against my wishes, my gaze lingers on the inviting curve of her lips for just a little too long. I lick my own dry lips with a smothered anticipation. "Good morning, Aeris…" I reply, hoping as always that she doesn't notice my fixation on her mouth or the tremble that I can never seem to free my voice of in her presence.

Not for the first time, I notice the starlight glimmer shining in her warm emerald eyes as she waits for my accompaniment on the stairs. Sunlight streams through the long, curved windows lining the top of the circular wall of the second level, throwing shadows across the supports for the ceiling and falling to our level to gently caress the serene face before me. Also not for the first time, I'm at a loss for words.

"Barret left early this morning," she starts slowly, voice soft and calm as always. I've always wondered how she can keep that tone all the time. One day, I hope to change that. "I didn't catch exactly where he was going, but he said there was someone he had to see. He said it would take a while…." Her voice trails off softly. I nod wordlessly in return, still untrusting of my voice. I don't quite like the nervous pitch it takes on whenever she's around. "So… I was hoping we could do something today while he's gone…."

There was absolutely no sexual reference in that suggestion, but I still have to fight off the thoughts begging to bombard my brain. Logically, I should say no. Being around Aeris throws me off, sets my entire being awhirl. She puts me into a constant state of adrenaline; quick pulse, sweaty palms, nervous glances, that's all me. There are moments when I look at her and get so caught up that I forget to breathe. Needless to say, it's dangerous, this feeling, this attraction, and I doubt it's beneficial to my health.

Despite that assessment, her hopeful gaze and docile posture aren't exactly the best of her charms to be put up against when one is as affected by her as I am. I sigh in defeat. Tifa Lockhart, conquered by a small, cutesy-cute girl and an even smaller cutesy-cute request. My trainer would have a fit. Though, perhaps if we traded positions and she tried to resist Aeris for a while, maybe she would understand where I'm coming from. Aeris in her normal calm, sweet self could put any puppy-dog face to shame, hands down.

"O-okay… sure…." My stammering utterance has just sealed my fate. And even as the little, semi-sensible Tifa's voice in my head tells me I should just keep my big mouth shut, the bigger, definitely-not-sensible, and hopelessly-devoted-to-Aeris Tifa searches for a big roll of duct tape to keep a certain someone quiet. "So… what did you have in mind?" I'm not a big fan of asking dangerous questions, but I find myself asking more and more of them the longer I stay with Barret and Aeris. Trepidation has me shaking in my boots, and I silently thank whoever will listen that I hadn't joined Aeris on the stairs. Up against a wall isn't usually one of my favorite scenarios either, but the hard, solid surface of my door at my back keeps me from melting to a puddle at her feet.

Her smile widens into something radiant. It's always beautiful, watching how the warmth in her eyes trails down to reach her smile. I'd never known smiles to be so breathtaking until I met her, even the small smiles she unconsciously dons while she's tending to her flowers or allowing Marlene to help her fix supper. Her smiles are always intensely beautiful, but when it's a genuine smile of happiness, it's a whole new ball game. My acceptance of her offer had put that smile on her face: the one she saved for moments like these when Barret was out and there were no assignments to be found, when she was sure she could just relax and spend the day enjoying the world and all of the beauty she could so easily see within it. It's the smile I wish I could bring out for the rest of my life.

"Yuffie's downstairs playing with Marlene," she says smoothly, indicating that we have the day free to do whatever we should choose. Her voice surrounds me, as if brought to my ears by a surreal wind of whispers and sighs. I inwardly take in a breath, smothering the sensible Tifa who had failed to be captured and ignoring her reprimands for allowing my AIR to act up. AIR, it fits this condition perfectly. I named it upon my first night here. AIR: Aeris-Induced Regression.

It does fit, really, even within the initial standards. She's like air to me. She's everything I breathe, everything I think, everything I need. When she's around me, she's all that I need to survive, even against the denial and reluctance sensible Tifa puts forth in acknowledging it. When she's gone, there's a feeling of suffocation left behind, as if I'm stuck in a vacuum. A lightless, Aeris-free vacuum. And I can't stand it. Of course, the senseless Tifa who melts upon every move Aeris makes has to ruin my theory, being left breathless in the very presence of said goddess. That's it, I suppose. I need her like I need the air when she's gone, but when she's around I can't breathe at all. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

Her tone when she speaks is unbelievably flexible. She holds within it the feeling that, should I show even the smallest sign of reluctance to do whatever she suggests, she would change her option instantly to something more favorable to my tastes. "I was hoping we could go to the park or get some ice cream before it rains," she says. Sunlight streams through the windows, and yet she talks of rain. If I didn't know any better, I would say her forewarning would be pessimistic, but I do know better; it's her innate touch with the earth that alerts her of the rain's coming. She can always feel when it's about to rain. The smile that lights her face as she watches it fall through the foggy windows of Barret's home is always something I can predict whenever she mentions it.

And then my mind is drawn back to her offer: …ice cream?


	3. Emerald Starshine

She tastes of strawberries. At least, that's how I imagine she tastes. Unless she somehow has a way of eating ice cream that blocks the taste from lingering on her lips, she must taste like strawberries. I'm more of a vanilla girl myself, but there are relatively few things I wouldn't give for a taste of strawberry right now….

As soon as Yuffie and Marlene's smiling faces and farewell waves had disappeared behind the door of Barret's house as we left, I knew I was in trouble. I had known it as soon as Aeris had ascended the stairs and her voice had reached my ears upon exiting my room, but once we left Barret's home, I felt it weighing down on me as if it were a physical force. Heavier than gravity, it pulled down at my already weakened defenses. Sensible Tifa's voice was drowned in the midst of this new sensation, smothered away until I didn't think she even existed in those moments, and I was left alone as my own bashful self, flailing in the company of a goddess.

A slow breeze tickles my face as we make our way slowly through the park. If I had been walking alone, my pace would have been set in a brisk motion, but with Aeris at my side, I've realized that things tend to slow down. That's simply her way. She treads slowly so as not to miss any of the beauty she so loves to study in the world. So, I now find myself desperately focusing on my plain, vanilla flavored treat as we walk. For good reason, I keep my eyes directed firmly away from my companion. My attempt fails horribly, but I at least like to tell myself that I have enough resistance to ignore the strawberry scent lingering in the air. The insanely tempting way Aeris eats ice cream, however, proves harder to overlook.

"Tifa?"

Her voice is soft, questioning. Perhaps she's noticed that whenever we're together I try my hardest to avoid looking at her or speaking to her. I wouldn't be surprised if she has; she's always very perceptional like that. She waits patiently for my acknowledgement, orbs of the brightest starshine focused solely on me. I think she's spent enough time around me to know that it takes a moment for me to gather up the courage to look at her.

I swallow the large lump of ice cream in my mouth, hoping that the sudden bite of chill will distract my thoughts when I turn to look at her. It works… almost. Once my gaze locks with hers, the ice cream is forgotten and so is the chill working its way down my throat. The quickly forced smile that I set in place falters. As she brushes a few strands of windblown chestnut hair from her eyes, it becomes less forced and suddenly takes a turn for longing and wistful, although some hint of a genuine smile at her endearing gestures begins to form under the innumerable layers of my shyness.

For brief moments like these, when I can smile a true smile at her, hidden as it is, I hope sometimes that maybe one day I won't have to worry about hiding my infinite love for her simple actions and her innocent personality. I hope that maybe one day my hated regression will dissipate and I will be able to smile at her the way she deserves to be smiled at. It's also brief moments like these when I sigh and remind myself that day will never come.

I take a slow breath and break our eye contact momentarily, struck with a sudden case of bashfulness. True, it's ever present whenever she's around, but there are certain moments so powerful that it almost seems to slap me across the face. I study the cracked concrete and the trodden grass beside it for a brief moment in the hopes that my tension will somehow lessen, and then return my wavering gaze to her eyes. "I'm sorry, Aeris," I start hesitantly. Maybe I'll be able to get out a full sentence without stuttering. "Were you saying something?"

"No," she replies quietly, a small crease starting to form in her brow. Emerald starshine warms with her concern. "You just seem… distant…." The last word is said with care, as if she isn't quite sure of her utterance. That's Aeris for you; always cautious in her assessments. Inwardly trembling at the accuracy of her words, I try to find the best evasive technique. Evasion: never did a moment pass when it wasn't being drilled into our heads during training, and yet I can't for the life of me think of a way out of my predicament.

We pass by two children wrestling over a ball in the grass, and I take a moment to study them in the same way I know my companion is. She expects a reply, and I plan to give her one eventually, but for the moment, we come to a silent standstill and watch the children. They tumble and roll through the infinite stretch of grass, insistent hands grabbing at the worn white and blue sphere. Breathless laughs and giggles are panted through open mouths, chests heaving erratically. They rest and gasp against each other while hair obscures their vision and gravity pulls their unbalanced bodies to the earth.

We watch them for several moments. They continue to fight for possession of the ball, neither admitting surrender to the other. I realize now that they can't be much younger than Aeris or myself. Aeris is nineteen, and I twenty, so if I had to guess, I'd say that the couple wrestling in the grass has to be at least sixteen. I exhale briefly, a pang of regret piercing my heart. I'd never had that as a teenager, or even as a child. Or if there ever was a time that I did have it, it was always torn away from me.

I finally turn away from the wrestling couple and work up enough strength to look Aeris in the eyes. Her calm gaze turns toward me, a silent request held within their verdant depths. I take a breath before I speak, wondering why I seem to be doing it so often. "I'm sorry," I say quietly, playing with the napkin I had wrapped carefully around my ice cream cone once I had gotten it. I glance past Aeris for a moment, over her shoulder, past the pink bow in her hair that quivers in the lazily passing breeze. The air itself is moist, and even though I don't have the unique ability to speak with the earth such that Aeris possesses, I can tell it will rain soon. "It's just so beautiful out here."

For a moment, I regret my words, but technically, I'm not really lying to her. It really is beautiful today. The heavens are darkened slightly by heavy clouds, but fleeting moments are found when the purple-tinged blue sky peeks between the hovering masses of moisture. The wind is thick with the scent of rain and moist grass as it passes us by, caressing the trees and stretch of lawn around us. Blossoms of pink and red dance with the wind, loose petals soaring through the air like tiny rose-colored butterflies. Our surroundings are quite beautiful, it was undeniable, but I silence the inward thought that her emerald starshine could shame the green of the grass and trees, and the pink of her dress best even the most beautiful cherry blossoms.

Tifa Lockhart, master poet. My instructor would hit the roof.


	4. A Correct Assumption

If I thought before that the scenery was a just cause for frivolous poetry, the intense, captivated light shining within her glimmering viridian eyes is certainly disproving my weakly based theory. She looks out to the far reaches of the park, surveying the blossoms and trees scattered about with a gaze full of wonderment. No inch of the park goes unnoticed under her calm surveillance, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant it may be to other people. I watch her quietly, a small, nearly unnoticed smile tugging at the corner of my lips while I study the fascinated gaze she directs toward her surroundings.

I lick away the slowly dripping substance that lines the edge of my ice cream cone, unwilling to waste any of the treat my companion had so insistently paid for. Aeris had been resolute when we stopped at the small ice cream parlor near the outskirts of Sector 6. Despite my attempts to get her to reconsider, she was adamant about her decision to pay for both of our selections by herself. I wasn't pleased that she had wasted three gils on me, but I resigned myself to the inevitable and started to eat my vanilla ice cream. As I continue to eat it now, I wonder briefly if the fascinated gaze Aeris directs toward her surroundings is anything akin to the reverent stares I often direct toward her when I hope she's not paying attention.

"I agree," she says in reply to my previous statement regarding the beauty of our surroundings, happily and blissfully focused on the magnificence around her. "It is rather enchanting today." Being thrown into training for nearly five years, I had never been able to just stop everything and smell the roses, so to speak, but the more time I spend with Aeris, the more I wish I could see all the beauty she so easily finds around her, and the more I start to appreciate the little things that mean so much to her.

Smiling to myself, I direct my gaze back to the wrestling couple I watched moments before, unsurprised to see that they have finally given up the fight. They lay side by side in the grass, propped up to look at one another, whispering quiet words that even my trained ears cannot catch. The blitz ball they had been so determinedly fighting for had rolled a few feet away and lay still, forgotten. Hands laced together between them, the couple paid no attention to the white and blue ball of mischief, instead lost within the other's eyes.

For a moment, I wish that I could have that some day: the childish wrestling in the park, the quiet whispers and gentle handholding, maybe even possibly with the girl standing not a foot away from me. My hopes are pointless, I know, but I smile again, more from watching them together than at the thought that I might experience a love like that some day. My observation of the couple is cut short by a soft, surprised gasp to my right.

I glance back to Aeris, automatically checking for any signs of danger. Call it paranoia if you will, but five years of training has taught me that paranoia can very well save your life. After studying our surroundings for a moment without seeing any signs of imminent danger, I finally direct my eyes toward Aeris, confused. Her soft giggle flutters to my ears as she brings her hands to her mouth. Warmly sparkling eyes catch my own, soft strands of silk whispering about her flushed pink cheeks. Once her hands finally reach the level of her mouth, I can see why she's laughing. Her observance of the park had caused her to forget about the remaining strawberry ice cream in her hand. Said remnants were now trickling down slender fingers and snaking their way across her palm.

I blink and swallow the sudden lump in my throat. Only Aeris can make licking spilt ice cream off her hand look so… enticing. She hurriedly licks the edge of the cone to keep any more of the sticky substance from escaping, but then turns her attention to her hand, being careful to catch it all before it falls to her dress. Her lush, pink lips glisten with the hint of ice cream as she continues to work at cleaning it all up. Suddenly, her gaze is drawn upward. Her smile widens as small droplets of moisture fall to the bridge of her nose and across her forehead. I glance to the heavens as well, now able to feel the rain myself.

It starts slowly, but gains intensity quickly. I look back down to Aeris in the now nearly pouring rain, blinking away the slowly trailing moisture that drips from my brow and into my eyes. She's completely unbothered by the rain, and if anything, her smile has grown wider. I sometimes wonder how she can be so happy when she's soaked to the bone, but I realize now that it's just part of who Aeris is, always looking at the bright things in life. Of course, rain isn't bright, but somehow she finds something amazing within it.

Darkened bangs cling wetly to her forehead, providing a sharp contrast to the ever sparkling emerald orbs beneath that glitter brilliantly with her happiness. Moisture gathers across the bridge of her nose, about her flushed cheeks, slick along her forehead and ears. Gravity tugs them down to drip from the tip of her nose, the curves of her lips, sliding along the line of her jaw. Stray droplets trickle down her graceful, swanlike neck, gathering in the hollow of her throat and spreading in a thin, glossy sheen across her collarbone.

I glance down at my now rain-smothered ice cream, slightly mourning the loss. My gaze lingers on the strange, unappetizing image that vanilla ice cream mixed with rainwater makes for a short moment, but my attention is drawn away quickly. Slender, slightly slippery fingers brush against my forearm, and I raise my eyes to a smiling emerald starshine. She smiles even brighter at the drowned-rat look I'm surely sporting.

"Come on," she says softly. She must have noticed that I don't do well in downpours, for if she was alone, I'm sure she would just continue to endure the torrent descending around her. Ever the considerate friend, she does what she believes is best for her companions. Her fingers encircle my wrist gently, feather-light even through the heavy haze of the rain. She takes a small step down the concrete path I had forgotten we were standing on, hesitant, as if she's unsure whether I will follow her or not. Unwilling to lose the feeling of her warm hand embracing my wrist, I move along with her.

Time slows for a moment as we start to move, slow enough for me to gently tug Aeris towards a nearby trash can where we hastily rid ourselves of our ruined ice cream. From here, time rapidly picks up the pace. Now I find myself running alongside the beautiful girl on the fast track to capturing my heart, a smile planted firmly on my face as we splash through the quickly accumulating puddles, attempting to dodge the inescapable rainfall, hands locked on each others wrists through it all.

There's no time to think as we run, but somehow I manage to wonder where we're going to end up. The only shelter to be seen would have to be the trees rushing by my peripheral vision, but all of the lessons I was taught as I child tells me to steer clear of all of the hulking masses of wood. Electrocution doesn't sound like it would be too much fun, even with Aeris at my side. However, Aeris seems to know where she's going.

The thoroughly drowned grass is slippery under my feet as she tugs me off of the paved path we had been following so religiously. I silently thank the gods that mud has yet to form in this area, but can't help but wonder where we're going. A worn, stone-walled building looms just ahead of us, and apparently that's where we're headed.

Small, circular, metal-supported and glass-topped tables are placed evenly atop the small stretch of crumbling concrete along the wall. Tarnished metal chairs are set upside down on top of the tables, a tinny sound reaching my ears as the ceaseless downpour batters against their undersides. Two large windows reside behind them, thick with fog, hiding the interior of the building from my eyes. I wonder vaguely why we would come here of all places, but I finally notice the small, overhanging cover Aeris must be moving for. Decorated with small stripes of white and blue, its doubtably stable supports hold it suspended above a metallic door covered in cracked and peeling blue-grey paint.

Generally slowing as we near the building, which I assume is the back of a restaurant, or something of the sort, I regard the cover's size with an unhindered apprehension. As we reach the cover, Aeris presses herself safely against the door, unwavering smile still in place. I quickly deduce that the cover is barely large enough to shelter her, even despite her small size, just as I expected. Inwardly resigning myself to the fact that I'll be standing in the rain for who knows how long, I tremble slightly in my waterlogged jacket.

However, Aeris, noticing my shiver, uses her soft, unbroken grip on my wrist to pull me under the small covering, and the small trembles she had so thoughtfully tried to disperse are brought to an all new high as I am pulled gently into her personal space, flush against her, stomach to stomach, thigh to thigh, breast to breast….

I've never been afraid to breathe before, but I guess there really is a first for everything. The darkened, inviting emerald depths before me must have a spell cast upon my lungs; they tighten, freeze, seeming to collapse under the weight of her calm stare. I've always wondered whether holding your breath slows your pulse or quickens it, but the insistent, nearly painful ache that hammers within my chest tells me that it must do the latter. Her fingers slide along my wrist almost imperceptibly, their soft warmth a frightening sensation that counters my desperate attempt to find hold of the cold, slick stone at her back with my left hand.

Perhaps this lack of oxygen will cause me to faint soon. Hopefully.

I barely notice the light, rhythmic rain that continues to drip down between us despite our position under the cover. Wouldn't you know, our savior has a run in it. If I hadn't been so far lost in Aeris, I would have cast a distinctly pissed glare in its direction, but the small hand that rests low on my hip, whose warmth I can feel even through the thick layers of my clothing, stops any thoughts of cursing at something as trivial as hole in a stretch of fabric.

In this moment, time seems to stop completely. I lose myself within the welcoming sea of green, diving headfirst into the warmth that waits within the emerald depths. Somehow, I blink, freeing myself of her riveting eyes and instead find myself gazing fixedly at the lush, glistening curves of her lips. I knew from the beginning that this attraction, this feeling would be my undoing. I knew it was dangerous. That much is proven as the sudden closeness between us and rush of feelings coursing through my body wash away any traces of my sanity. This dangerous attraction is what takes hold and bends me to her lips.

I've never kissed anyone before; another first for me, but that doesn't matter. All that matters is that the slightly chilled, incredibly soft lips that are pressed against my own bring out an uncontrollable trembling from so deep within me that it shakes my entire being. That must be it, for I doubt it's the chill of the rain that causes me to shake so obviously before her. Even as time seems to stop, the chill around us slowly dissipates. And even though I feel as if I'm lost in a halting void of timeless eternity where I can feel nothing but the warmth of her lips on mine, that heat intensifies with each timelessly passing moment.

The kiss is brief, but it lasts longer than I would have expected it to. Upon my very first inclination to tilt my lips to hers, I had assumed she would shove me away from her and back into the barrage of the frigid downpour, screaming curses and insults. I had expected anything other than what had happened. Yes, the tightening of her gentle grip around my wrist and hip and the pressure I could feel her exerting against my own lips in the midst of our actions was definitely not something I had expected when insanity took hold. The small, yet intensely powerful smile that tugged at her swollen lips once we had separated was even less expected.

I was right; she tastes like strawberries.


End file.
